Conceptions of experiments in teaching mathematics and teaching physics in Vietnam (original) (raw)

Experiences of Mathematics Student Teachers in a Series of Science Experiments

There is an increased interest in finding connections with mathematics and areas outside mathematics such as hard and soft sciences. This increased interest reflected in many of curriculum reforms that took place during the past few decades including the one in Turkish elementary and secondary mathematics education. Hence we believe that Turkish mathematics teachers should have the skills necessary for coping with the changing requirements of the 'new high school' mathematics'. Since research skills is an important requirement, the aim of the paper was chosen to be to investigate 32 mathematics student teachers' reactions during a series of physics experiment, which involves identification of the variables, measurement process and data analysis. In this case study, multi method approach is used in the study to get rich data for answering research questions. The main data collection tools are physics experiment lab reports. A categorization procedure was used to transform the mainly qualitative data into a statistically analyzable form. Findings indicate that student teachers' overall performances on the experiments were not satisfactory. Transforming formal mathematical knowledge into a physics experiment context was problematic. Main conclusion of the study is that teacher training curriculum currently used should be designed to equip the teachers the skills they need to cope with the changing requirements.

The impact of experiments in physics lessons – “Why, when, how often?”

DIDFYZ 2019: Formation of the Natural Science Image of the World in the 21st Century, 2019

Practical activities are an essential component of science teaching and learning. Nowadays the majority of school laboratories is well equipped with experimental devices and computer based experiment systems (Vernier, Pasco). The key question of our research is, whether using all this equipment make teaching physics more effective. The aim of the paper is to discuss the efficiency of laboratory work and experiments provided by teachers so as by learners at various types of schools. What strategies within the use of experiments we need to develop or enrich students´ scientific knowledge? Examples how to design learning outcomes of hands on experiments so as computer based experiments in the content of school curricula will be presented. 1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays the quality of teaching natural sciences, especially physics, is at the very edge of public interest. Examining the current trends in education we can conclude that the holder of the first place is the STEM concept-a combination of natural sciences, mathematics, and techniques. According to this concept, an integral part of education is students' preparation for their employment on the labor market, especially in the professions linked with technology. Following from that, there is also an increased emphasis put on the practical activities of students during teaching hours, in our case, in teaching physics. Therefore, we consider physical experiment being a critical educational tool. The importance of experiments in physics is discussed in domestic and foreign literature. Students' practical activities are also related to the results of PISA and TIMSS international surveys considering students' success in solving individual types of problems. 1 Curricular Documents in the Czech Republic-The Framework Educational Programs state the general requirements for students in the field of practical activities. In the Framework for secondary schools, for the educational area called "Man and Nature" is stated: "to lead students for carrying out systematic and objective observations, measurements and experiments (particular of a laboratory character) according to their own or a team plan or project, for elaborating an interpretation of the acquired data and finding connections between them; for using modern technology resources during the cognitive activity of Science". If we have a look at the expected students' outputs we can see that only in the topic "Physical quantities and their measurements" it is explicitly stated that "a student measures the selected physical quantities by the appropriate methods, elaborates and evaluates the results of the measurements." Similarly, students' competences are also characterized in the case of the Framework for grammar schools. 2 Research on nature and activities of such educational disciplines of the "Man and Nature" educational field as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geography enable students to understand the laws of natural processes more deeply, and thus to recognize the usefulness of science and its application in practical life. It should be emphasized that, studying nature through specific cognitive methods, students could also acquire important skills. It is above all to develop skills systematically, observe, make experiments and measure objectively and thoroughly, create and verify hypotheses on the nature of the observed natural phenomena, analyze the results of this verification, and draw conclusions basing on them. Students learn to study the causes of natural processes, their contexts and relationships

The computational experiment and its effects on approach to learning and beliefs on physics

Computers & Education, 2011

Contemporary instructional approaches expect students to be active producers of knowledge. This leads to the need for creation of instructional tools and tasks that can offer students opportunities for active learning. This study examines the effect of a computational experiment as an instructional tool-for Grade 12 students, using a computer simulation environment created in Java for the domain of "linear oscillations without damping". In this study we use the computational experiment as an integration of the computational science with the discovery learning method. The computational experiment supports both types of research, the exploratory as well as the inventive research, helping the learners to develop not only exploratory but also expressive models. The aim of the paper is threefold. At first we want to examine the influence of the computational experiment on students' learning performance. The other two aims are related to the investigation of the experiment's influence on students' approach to learning and their beliefs on physics. Our results indicate that there is a strong shift on students' conceptual understanding and to the consideration of the coherence of physics, as well as to the realization that physics is strongly connected to mathematics. Finally students realized that mathematics, physics and information theory are strongly connected cognitive disciplines.

experiments: An investigation of students' responses

2012

The primary objective of performing a physics experiment is to gain procedural as well as conceptual understanding. Some of the researches reported in Physics Education emphasize the importance of introducing innovations in physics experiments so as to improve clarity as well as the depth of learning experiences. In this paper, we report the impact of seven experiments designed in different branches of physics and systematically tried on college students. We observe a significant enhancement in the conceptual understanding of the students after exposure to the treatment.

Joint approaches of sciences and mathematics learning by experimental approaches

In inquiry based approaches in sciences, mathematics is usually present but often ignored or underestimated. Mathematical knowledge can be identified at different levels to allow teachers and students to become aware of the implementation of this knowledge in scientific work. Building on observations made under the project "Development of scientific culture, equal opportunities" in schools of the city of Dijon, we derive a typology characterizing the role of mathematics in science courses at different levels. We show through examples that it is possible to mobilize mathematical knowledge at various levels to conduct scientific approaches and give meaning to the mathematical knowledge mobilized. Résumé : Dans les démarches d'investigation en sciences, les mathématiques sont généralement présentes mais souvent ignorées ou sous-estimées. Les savoirs mathématiques peuvent être convoqués à des niveaux différents qu'il s'agit d'identifier et de définir pour perme...